Tag Archive: McLaren

Finally they have arrived. The whole world witnessed one magnificent spectacle last night when the Olympics were officially kicked off.

More than 11000 athletes are competing. Well, watching the archery today I thought, umm maybe the word athlete is abused here. Whenever ‘athlete’ is mentioned, I for one expect a specimen of physical fitness, evidence of hard work at the gym, running swimming or whatever. The Olympics motto is ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger’ and I am sure the Olympic family embraces all those who take part. But looking at the archers,well! It doesn’t matter anyway. The Queen apparently parachuted herself into the Olympic Park! Who would have ever thought or imagined that possible. Whether it was the Queen or not is secondary. David Cameron was in attendance too. What he made of it I will always wonder. The best bit for me was watching the athletes walking into the stadium. They are the performers, without them there will be nothing to watch.

Mark Cavendish (cyclist) did not win the gold medal as everyone expected. He didn’t get any medal at all. After Bradley Wiggins‘s victory in France last week, we all expected Cavendish to triumph on home soil as well. He is a very, very good cyclist.It wasnt meant to be. Michael Phelps could not get a look in as well. He came fourth in the 400m Individual Medley. Ryan Lochte,had the cheek to beat him. The American part of the Olympic Village must be a fun place to be tonight. Team GB ladies football team is doing well and I hope that will be replicated by the male team.

Football/soccer

Just been watching English teams playing or showcasing the ‘beautiful game’, in the USA and Canada. They prefer calling it soccer in those parts. Liverpool just played a 0-0 draw with Spurs,and that got me wondering whether the Americans enjoyed it at all. Or how much they are enjoying it. Of course there is a significant proportion of fans who have always watched ‘our football’ or migrated from the hotbeds of football and they will of course enjoy watching the teams from England and Europe. Liverpool have a massive fan base across the globe too. The English teams have every right to invade those ‘virgin’ territories to develop more marketing opportunities. How is the market responding? The MLS seems to be getting stronger and more competitive too. It’s a good thing the MLS never thought they would name their competitions a ‘world Series’ like the MLB does. Is soccer proving to be a major competitor to MLB, NBA, NFL, NASCAR etc? As a football lover, I really hope soccer becomes big in America. The other side of the same coin though, is that I would also love to watch say the Boston Red Sox playing the White Sox or the Dodgers in the UK. The NFL have a game annually at Wembley. Surely MLB could also have something similar, at Lords or the Oval! After all even NBA has exhibition ,matches, plus, there is the Harlem Globetrotters!

Darts.

It is indeed a very good weekend for sport. We have got darts tonight as well. We have got the World Matchplay at Blackpool. Here is to Hoping Phil ‘the Power’ Taylor is victorious. Whats in a name anyways? All these sports like to call their tournaments ‘world’ this and that. Americans do that for competitions involving not more than 2 countries. Yes Uncle Sam that’s true. Darts now have also got onto the act and proclaim to have a ‘World Matchplay’. Possibly involving more than 5 countries. The mind boggles. But does that give these sports the right to add ‘world cup’ to their competitions? At least with football (or soccer we know every country in the world gets a look in. Why is darts not an Olympic sport,any road? Surely it is a sport and you are very unlikely to find anyone taking performance enhancing drugs in this sport. Moreover, there would have been a guaranteed Gold Medal for Team GB – Phil Taylor would have won it. It time the IOC reviewed the games on offer. Talking of performance enhancing drugs, Hysen Pulaku from Albania has all ready been thrown out of the Olympics for using anabolic steroids. At least two other athletes from Morocco and Hungary have been precluded from taking art in the Olympics because of the use/abuse of these illegal substances.

Formula One

Congrats to Lewis Hamilton getting pole for the Hungarian Grand Prix. The boy is made of sterner stuff. The British tabloids have been relentlessly trying to make his personal life a nightmare of late. If not discussing the ins and outs of his contract with McLaren, they are busy trying to turn a mole hill into a mountain – Apparently Lewis Hamilton had the temerity to hang out with mates (including girls) when Nicole Scherzinger was away working.Therefore his girlfriend is either (1) going to give him a stern talking to, or (2) Dump him. Well,well, well,I bet the same journalists are allowed to go out for drinks with friends of the opposite sex without asking for explicit permission from their other halves! Ignore the barracking Lewis, and win the Hungarian Grand Prix for all the millions who follow you and McLaren. Admittedly McLaren have had a bad time of late with pit stops, mechanical faults, weather et al. Hopefully they have turned a corner! An interesting fact I just felt I had to throw in: Sebastien Vettel has never won in July. He doesn’t win in July. Therefore the competition for first place tomorrow will just be Alonso, Webber, Schumacher and or Button. Those are my bold predictions. Ladies and gentlemen.

It is quite exciting at the moment.London is doing well. We hope the weather decides to take a back seat and not rain on this parade. Oh and we hope Mitt Romney and his apparatchiks are watching: ‘YES WE CAN.

The Formula 1 Drivers Championship has never been this exciting for some time. It has so often been predictable and boring.

The British Grand Prix is this weekend and it promises to be another exciting race. Silverstone,the home of Formula 1 in the United Kingdom is yet again hosting this motor racing spectacle. 96 000 lucky spectators will be able to watch it live . McLaren, being one of the leading British racing outfits will be hoping to finish first. McLaren will surely try to recover from their last travails at Valencia where they could not make the podium. And failed to get any points. Moreover, Lewis Hamilton was shunted off the track. His car was struggling to get to the finish line in any case. No one wants to be beaten in their own home ground, so they will be pulling all stops to make sure they win the Grand Prix.

The added prospect of rainfall will make it even more a challenge and it will add to the excitement.

There was sad prelude to the race earlier this week when the Marussia test driver Maria De Villota suffered some horrific injuries following an accident. She has lost one eye as a result. We all wish her a speedy and full recovery.

Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button have rightfully been hogging the limelight. Lewis Hamilton is second in the Drivers’ Championship.Jensaon has had a topsy-turvy season so far. Another Brit, Paul di Resta has maintained a low profile, but is proving to be a competitive driver. He is going to win one of these days. His driving has become better and he seems quite focused. His reputation has surely gone up a notch. He has so far amassed as many points as he amassed all of last season. Surely that’s an improvement. So he is one to watch.

Fernando Alonso will always pose a serious threat. The Ferraris are quite strong now and seem to have overcome some teething problems. The Ferrari has been quite competitive since the Spanish Grand Prix in May. On his day he is hard to beat, he won the last Grand Prix after starting in 11th place. Besides, Fernando Alonso is the only man to have won twice this season . A remarkable season that has seen 7 different drivers finishing top of the pile. Seb Vettel is also proving that he is no flash in the pan. The car let him down at the European Grand Prix and he will be trying hard to make amends. The Red Bull car is quite strong, but it has been beset with some gremlins this season. For some reason the car is not as reliable as it was last season.

The second part of the season is surely going to be different from what we have so witnessed. The top 3 cars, that is McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull are surely going to get better and the championship title will be fought within this group (Williams and Mercedes will not upset the apple cart). These 3 aforementioned cars are going to be more consistent; McLaren will surely have overcome their pit-stop failings and as is often wont in life, the cream shall rise to the top.

McLaren are going to do well as this is their home turf. Ferrari maybe pipped by Red Bull. Red Bull will be chomping at the bits following the problems they experienced at Valencia (European Grand Prix).

Predictions for the podium are:

1. Lewis Hamilton

2. Sebastien Vettel

3. Jenson Button

Hey, I got the predictions wrong. Thought Alonso maybe could make 4th. Webber,…uh. Not a bad driver, but expected Vettel to pip him. As for McLaren-What a huge disappointment. No national pride at all. Expected much better. Coincidentally,I spent Saturday night having a chinwag with one of the ‘official fans’ who spent a vast fortune to be at Silverstone for 3 nights. This guy naturally expectedMcLaren to be competitive. The damp squib show was an anti-climax.

My predictions were wack, but I am gonna get it right next race, the Germany Grand Prix at Hockenheim. Watch this space!